Marine welcomed home at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School

Evan Conboy, a member of the Combat Logistic Regiment of the 171st Marines, returns home Wednesday, June 12, 2013, after serving in Afghanistan since May 2012 and is greeted with a hug by Audrey Kelly. Photo by Rick Kauffman/Times Herald Staff.

WHITEMARSH — Evan Conboy, lance corporal in the Combat Logistics Regiment of the 171st Marines, returned to a hero’s welcome at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School Wednesday in an event organized by the Warriors’ Watch Riders group.

WWR’s mission is to make sure no veteran is scorned or forgotten. The group — along with the Barren Hill, Spring Mill and Harmonville fire companies, among others — greets returning troops with a motorcycle escort in a show of tribute and respect.

Conboy deployed to Afghanistan in May 2012 and served overseas until April 12, when he safely returned to Camp Pendleton to await deployment leave.

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In 2006, Conboy’s older brother Adam, also a Marine, was killed serving in Iraq.

His mother Mary said, “Evan always as a little boy wanted to be a Marine, and when we went to war Adam just felt like it was his responsibility. They’re five years apart, so I had some time. I told Evan to just go to college and see what happens, but after a year he said, ‘Mom, I’ve got to go in.’”

“I was hesitant at first, I didn’t want to hurt (my parents),” Conboy said. “I saw what happened and how much hurt it was for the them after he passed away and I didn’t want to do that to them.”

Conboy graduated from Roman Catholic High School in 2008 and began attending Gwynedd Mercy College, but he said he couldn’t shake the need to join the Corps.

“I didn’t raise them to follow the desires of my heart, I raised them to follow the desires of their own,” Mary Conboy said.

Evan’s welcome home was a complete surprise. He had been told that his young sisters Gracie and Morgan were performing in a dance recital, but instead he found himself surrounded by friends, family, loved ones, former military personal, local firemen and those who simply wished to bestow their gratitude. The greeters were adorned in patriotic ensembles as well as shirts that read simply, “Thank You.”

“It was humbling, I really couldn’t put it into words at the time,” Conboy said. “I was shocked by the big turnout and it’s really nice to see everybody.”

“It felt like full circle for me; for the past seven years there have been so many tears and so much sadness and just working really hard to support the guys, so I felt like a chapter finally closed,” Mary Conboy said. “I felt like Adam’s death was hanging out there and (Evan) has done something Adam wasn’t able to do — Adam wasn’t able to come home alive — and (Evan) did that.”